Operation: Increase Protein

I think it’s safe to say that Operation: Increase Protein has begun, albeit with mixed results thus far. Dr F and I had a conversation about protein on Wednesday, following up with my chat with Mark earlier in the week. Dr F actually suggested doubling (!!!) the protein amounts suggested by Mark, in part because the medical research says so, and in part because I eat about 2000 calories a day.

Between the Sparkrecipes site and another one recommended on the Internet (Skinnytaste), I got a whack of recipes for snacks and meals that are, um, very high protein. I bought vegetarian protein powder (!!! who am I?) for one of the recipes, which was a thoroughly intimidating process. I’m in the “nutritional supplement” store, where they sell things in barrel sized buckets. The guy in front of me in line was having a seriously detailed discussion about how to gain weight, and which of the supplements was the way to go. He had one that was 1000 calories PER SERVING. Seriously? I’d rather have a poutine. Apparently there’s a difference between “lean weight” and “heavy weight”. Whatever. It was weird.

Turkey stuffed peppers, which were awesome, but needed more cheese and perhaps a touch of curry powder. I subsituted quinoa for the rice in the recipe, and made two halves a meal.

Ground turkey with potatoes and spring peas, which is pretty good. I’m not serving it with rice, by the way, but have turned it into 3 servings of around 330 cals each.

Luckily, I busted my way over to Costco (I keep forgetting I have a membership there) on Friday and they had ground turkey on sale, so I bought 4 pounds for a little under $20. I think I prefer ground chicken, but i’ll learn to deal, since I have two pounds in the freezer!

Since my snack ideas didn’t turn out so well, I’m going to stick with cheese and fruit this week. I have three lunches and two dinners cooked and ready to eat, and tried the atlantic salmon fillets from Loblaws’ Blue Menu, so I know I can make them quickly and they’re not revoltingly fishy. I also have a pasta dish ready to go. I think I’m going to add some beans to it, to up my protein.

Today, I hit 125g of protein, or exactly the target. It was a lot of work to hit that target, people. I made it to 114g yesterday, and actually made note of it in my tweet what you eat diary. I figure if I can keep it up over 100g a day for the next week, I’ll be able to tell if it’s really making a dent on my hungries. I’m crossing my fingers and toes.

How’s your protein intake? What do you do to improve or increase your protein?

Older posts

3 comments

I find the only way I can get my required daily protein is by having protein shakes. I usually have one midmorning that I’ve made with 2% milk and a banana – it usually acts as a pick me up after I get to work. Then I usually have another (with just water) in the evening.

This is my big failing in my diet as well – not enough protein. We have a ton of food allergies in this house, and over time we have slowly eliminated almost all sources of protein – no nuts, no legumes (including soy), no milk, no eggs, no fish. Add to that that my husband does not eat red meat and that means we’re eating chicken almost every day, but it’s still not enough.

If you find some good solutions, I’d love to hear them. I admit I’ve never considered protein shakes/smoothies before – I’ll look into that.